Automatic grand piano.



W. J. KEELEY.

= AUTOMATIC GRAND PIANO.

k APPLICATION FILED OCT- II, 19H. I I I 1,168,645, Patented Jan.18, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

' IIIIII flaivzemled'; I e 1 v 6 r y W. 1. KEELEY; v AUTOMATIC GRAND PIANO.

v APPLICATION FlLED OCT- 11,1911. 7 1,168,645. Patented Ja11.18, 1916.

3SHEETS-8HEET 2. I

W. J. KEELEY.

. AUTOMATIC GRAND PIANO.

' APPLICATION HLED OCT-11,1911. 1,168,645, Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

' 3 SHEETSSHEET 3 WNW @W ifim WW x III III/III] III/III GOMRANY, acoRPoRATIoN or new YORK;

. AUmoMa-rm; GRAND PIANO;

, 1.. :Specificationof Letters Patent. Pate t d J 18. 191 V r pr feaaidaaiea better 11, 19111. "s eria l l o. 654,104. J

To dl lalihom 'tt Lc'mf [Be it known that LjWi LiAivi J. shes 1 citizen of the United States, residing at New York,

in the'county of NewfYork 'andf State of New York, "have "invented a new and use all Aremaaq a fr following a fspecificatio The 'object oftliisjinveilaea i sjto improve the arrangements constructions used in automaticfgrand pianos and "the invention nient for't-he-operating'p alsand motor: Theinvention. is shownin the accompanying three sheets of'dra'win gs in which- Figure 1 is a front elevationo'f partsof an automatic grand piano improvement applied thereto. F igia is an enlarged. view of the depending casing. Fig.

3 is a sectional elevation thereof showi the pedals in operative position. Fig. 4 1 a similar View illustrating the pedals in in.-

' operative position, and Fig. 5 is a. view similar to Fig. 3 on a somewhat smaller scale illustrating a modification.

Referring to the drawings and in detail, AA designates'the frame of a grand piano, B the key board, C the key bed, and D the keys of a grand piano. Depending from the structure and under the key bed is a casing E preferably made rectangular in cross sec tion. This casing is with an opening 10.

11 designates a door or panel. The door or panel is provided with four bearing blocks 12 which fit into grooves or slots cut in the casing so that the same can be slid upwardly to uncover said opening or downwardly to cover said opening. A bell crank lever 13 is pivoted inside of the casing and the long arm thereof connects by a link 14 to a block 15 secured near the bottom of the door or panelat substantially the center thereof. The short end of the bell crank lever is connected by a link 16 to an arm 17 which is mounted on a shaft 18 journaled in blocks secured to the bottom of the key bed C and which shaft has an operating handle or lever 19 secured on its outer end.

i A spring 20 is secured between a block 21 secured on the bell crank lever and a screw 22 inside of the casing. The spring is arranged so as'to exert its heaviest pull as the handle 19 is swung as indicated in dotted "o fof which provided at its front lines in Fig. 1 toraise the doorand alsois arranged so as to hold the door inits open substantially of the door.

'designatesa. pairof pedals which to a bar or block 24. This bar are pivoted 24has' arms 2525 extending therefrom, the

.ends o'f which are bent downwardly and outwardlyand are pivoted in blocks 2626' secured inside of thecasing E. Each'pedal 23connects by a link 27,;bell crank lever 28,

and link 29 tothe movable member 30 of a feedenor bellows F. Thesefeeders F--F are mounted or carried on a suitable windof the piano levers 28 are trunk G secured to the bottom structure. The 'bell crank ri e 9e breq t fi Se ured n t e ide fthge easing E, as shown.

By this arrangement the door can be opened and the pedals swung to operative posltlon, as shown in Flg. 3, or the pedals can be swung 1nto inoperative posltion up inside of the casing and the door closed, as

shown in Fig. 4. A block or bar 32 is carried across the casing and the pneumatic operating motor M for the music sheet manipulating mechanism is mounted on said bar. This motor maybe of any ordinary or approved construction and'connected to the wind trunk G by thepassage G (Fig. 3). The shaft of the motor M is connected to operate the note sheet manipulating mechanism N by means of the usual sprocket wheels and sprocket chains. By housing the parts in the .manner described a very ornamental and. compact arrangement is provided which does not detract from the appearance of the ordinary grand piano.

The pedals PPP which are employed when the piano is played manually may be pivoted to the casing, as indicated in Fig. 1.

In ,Fig. 5 a modification is shown in which each bracket 31 which supports the bell crank lever 28 is secured to the bottom of the casing. In this arrangement an extra link 33 is arranged between each link 27 and bell crank 28 and a swinging link 34 is arranged to support the links at the point of shown in the other figures of the drawings, the motor can be arranged above and also slightly at the rear of the position the pedals occupy when they are swung up into the casing, as illustrated in Fig. 4:.

'The details and arrangements herein shown and described may be greatly varied by a skilled mechanic without departing from the scope of my invention as expressed in the claims. a

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by LetteisPatent is 1. An automatic grand piano having, in combination, a depending casing positioned under the central portion of the key board and of substantially less depth from front to. back than either with 01- height, said casing containing a pneumatic note-sheetoperating motor and having an opening in the front side of said casing, a door slidable into and out of position to close said opening, pneumatic feeders disposed horizontally closely adjacent the under side of the piano bed and extending forwardly into the upperpart of said casing, and a pair of pedals operatively connected to the feeders and mounted to be swung upward into said casing, said casing also comprising means for supporting said motor within the casing and beneath said feeders.

2. An automatic grand piano having, in combination, a depending casing positioned under the central portion of the key board and of substantially less depth from front to back than either Width or height, said casing containing a pneumatic note-sheetoperating motor and having an opening in the front side of said casing, a door slidable into, and out of position to close said opening, pneumatic feeders disposed horizontally closely adjacent the under side of the piano bed and extending forwardly into the upper part of said casing, and a pair of pedals operatively connected to the feeders by substantially vertical links and mounted to be swung upward into said casing, said casing also comprising means for supporting said motor within the casing, beneath said feeders and above the position occupied by the pedals when in inoperative position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. KEELEY. Witnesses WM. J. BARTON, EDGAR STEVENSON.

Copies 0! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

